medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (20. May) is also the feast day of:
Theodore of Pavia (d. 755?). Co-patron of his city, along with
Augustine of Hippo, whose tomb in Pavia's San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro is
worth a look:
http://tinyurl.com/dmk3e
, and with Syrus of Pavia, T. was an eighth-century bishop of uncertain
date who by the eleventh century had become legendary as a protector of
Pavia. According to the famously imaginative _Chronicle of Novalesa_,
Charlemagne's siege of the Lombard capital in 773-74 could only succeed
once T. had died. The dating of Pavia's eighth-century bishops is
troublesome, but it seems likely that our T. had gone to his eternal
reward well before this. He was buried in Pavia's church of St. Agnes,
later renamed in his honor. This, after a rebuilding in the twelfth
century, is a monument of Lombard "romanesque", though good views of it
are surprisingly hard to come by on the free Web.
Two views of the exterior, here:
http://www.lombardiainrete.it/03/articoli/Articolo/?t=32&Ta=Storia
and here:
http://www.comune.pv.it/lepiazzedipavia/immagini/s.teodoro.jpg
Note the octagonal "tiburio" over the transept. A closer view:
http://www.miapavia.it/i/album/neve/slides/San%20Teodoro.jpg
Inside, a view of a capital carved to represent a siren:
http://www.ingiroperilmondo.it/images/steodoro_pv_1.jpg
and a thumbnail view looking towards the sanctuary:
http://www.lombardiacultura.it/FRISLscheda.cfm?ID=82
Is that Catherine of Alexandria in a wheelchair??
http://www.ingiroperilmondo.it/images/steodoro_pv_2.jpg
Also inside is an early fifteenth-century polychrome marble statue of
T., holding an image of his city. A thumbnail view of the head is here:
http://www.sism.org/pavia/assets/images/monuments/SanTeodo.jpg
And here he is again in a late fifteenth-century panel by Vincenzo Foppa:
http://www.ilongobardi.it/foppa/sezione7p_sc8.htm
Pavia's church of San Teodoro also has two early sixteenth-century frescoes
presenting successive versions of a panoramic view of the city; medieval
churches and many late medieval towers are featured prominently. Here's
a view of the second version (with St. Anthony Abbot in the foreground):
http://www.comune.pv.it/lepiazzedipavia/immagini/affrescogrande.jpg
The 22-line sepulchral inscription often thought to be T.'s (MGH, Poetae
Latini Aevi Carolini, vol. 1 [1881], pp. 101-02) was convincingly
reattributed by Donald A. Bullough in 1969 to bishop Peter II (consecrated
781); see his "I vescovi di Pavia nei secoli ottavo e nono: fonti e
cronologia," in _Atti del 4o Congresso internazionale di studi sull'Alto
Medioevo_ (Spoleto: Centro italiano di studi sull'Alto Medioevo, 1969), pp.
317-28.
Best,
John Dillon
(last year's post, revised)
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